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Kumbh Mela Hindu festival begins in India

January 15, 2019

The largest religious gathering on earth is underway at the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers. India's Hindu nationalist-led government has actively promoted the festival.

Holy men on elephants take part in the Kumbh Mela festival
Image: picture-alliance/P. Kumar Verma

World's largest religious festival to kick off in India

01:36

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India's Kumbh Mela religious festival began as the sun rose on Tuesday, with hundreds of thousands of pilgrims taking to the holy rivers. Hindus believe that bathing there during the Kumbh helps cleanse sins and brings salvation.

Organizers have said they expect the spiritual festival to attract more than 100 million Hindu pilgrims during the 48 day gathering in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Translating to "festival of the sacred pitcher," it is the largest religious gathering in the world and it was added to UNESCO's list of intangible human heritage in 2017. Kumbh Mela rotates between four locations every three years, based on astrological positions.

Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad) is the location of this year's festival, where the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, along with the mythical Saraswati river, is considered holy.

Read more: How India's sacred cows are creating havoc on the streets

Naked, dreadlocked holy men smeared in ash and sadhus wearing saffron robes will wander the crowds and offer blessings to pilgrims who make the trek from various parts of the country to take part in the ritual dip.

Some 30,000 police have been deployed to oversee crowds for the huge event and to prevent stampedes, which have marred Kumbh gatherings in the past.

Pilgrims will camp out across a sprawling zone that the city has designated for the festival, which will have restaurants, roads and marketplaces along the river.

A bridge is illumnated in Allahabad, in anticipation of the Kumbh Mela 2019Image: picture -lliance/AP/R. Kumar Singh

State-sponsored festivity

India's Hindu nationalist-led government has paid particular attention to the festival this year. The state has spent unprecedented sums on the Kumbh, as part of a strategy to focus on the country's majority Hindu population on the eve of a general election this year.

The Uttar Pradesh state government, which is led by a Hindu priest, has also heavily promoted this year's Kumbh. His face and that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi appear on posters at the entrance to the Kumbh, and throughout the 3,200-hectare (7,907-acre) fairgrounds, touting government programs for the community.

Read more: #NewNationalism: 'Turn India into a Hindu state'

"The vision of the government was to make sure that the Indian heritage, the Indian culture, the Kumbh heritage which actually personifies what India is, is shown to the entire world," said Vijay Anand, an Indian civil servant and the head Kumbh official.

The historic city of Allahabad was also renamed to Prayagraj in October by the Uttar Pradesh government. The move sought to replace the centuries-old Muslim moniker with an ancient Hindu title.

jcg,jm/se (Reuters, AFP, dpa)

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